PowerBI.tips

Milwaukee Brew City PUG – August 2020

August 31, 2020 By Mike Carlo
News Events
Milwaukee Brew City PUG – August 2020

Back again with another Power BI User group for Milwaukee. This month Mike and Seth walk through the beta release of external tools. If you didn’t see the announcement from Microsoft but in July of 2020 was the release of External tools.

What are External Tools? I’m glad you asked. An External Tool is an application that can be used along side with Power BI. Parameters can be passed from Power BI desktop into the External Tool, such as a connection string to the data model.

We are super thrilled about this new ability to enhance the Power BI desktop experience so much that we built a custom installer that will enable users install many of these external tools all in one place. This is why we build Business Ops.

Watch this month’s PUG to see how to install External Tools for your machine.

#power-bi

Previous

Hot Swap Report Connections – External Tools

Next

Update 'Enter Data' Table in Service without full Publish

More Posts

Jun 10, 2026

You Are Wasting Your Time! – Ep.531

Stop wasting time in Fabric by identifying inefficient workflows and adopting better practices. Mike and Tommy discuss OneLake storage reporting, Fabric Jumpstart accelerators, and practical ways to speed up your Fabric development.

May 22, 2026

Agentic Skill & Report Design – Ep. 530

Episode 530 explores how agentic coding is reshaping report development, from faster prototyping to new expectations for model and visual design. Mike and Tommy connect the May 2026 Power BI updates to a practical question: which skills still matter most when AI builds more of the stack.

May 20, 2026

AI Driving Your CoE - Ep.529

AI can strengthen a Center of Excellence, but only when it is applied to clear business goals, known pain points, and a defined maturity baseline. Mike and Tommy explain where AI can genuinely reduce friction, where it creates noise, and how teams can prove it is making the COE better rather than just bigger.